More patients turning to ChatGPT for diagnoses before seeing a doctor
Latvian doctors report that patients increasingly consult artificial intelligence tools before visiting them. An LSM.lv and Norstat survey found that nearly a quarter of young people in Latvia would first turn to AI when facing health problems.
Doctors in Latvia are noticing a new trend — patients searching for answers to health questions are increasingly turning to artificial intelligence tools rather than traditional search engines. Dermatologist Raimonds Karls jokes that where people once used Google, they now turn to ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity and similar tools, which he calls the "new doctors."
According to his observations, patients are increasingly mentioning during consultations that they had already consulted an AI tool before their appointment.
Survey findings
A public opinion survey conducted by LSM.lv together with the research company Norstat shows that artificial intelligence is becoming a significant source of health information, particularly among young people. The results show that nearly a quarter of young people in Latvia would turn to artificial intelligence first when facing a health problem, rather than, for example, a family doctor or other traditional sources of information.
This trend points to a gradual shift in patient habits, which is also affecting how doctors communicate with patients and how medical practice is shaped today.
